Called To Serve: Mexico, Mexico City North: Week #31

I have ridden in a "bicitaxi", it's a normal bike with a cart in the back. And some of the garbage things are burros (the ones that grandpa was so excited about). We walk a ton. My first area was like 10 streets and this one is big enough for 4 pairs of missionaries. We walk anywhere from 10 minutes to over an hour to get from one place to the next. Oh yeah there is a ton of fireworks all the time.(He is in the fireworks capital of Mexico.) Not the ones like in the U.S. They make like a giant animal (horse, bull, etc.) out of wood and metal with a ton of fireworks. About 10 feet tall or bigger and then they fly down the streets on fire. The video of it I saw looked pretty nuts. I have seen the wooden animals, just not on fire. It's true there's some missing fingers, I don't know why.(Ha,Ha)

Elder Espinoza if from Cuidad Juarez, Chihuaha. He likes Pokemon so that's good. There are just some things that are hard, there are some rules he doesn't want to follow or work more than is necessary. I´m just trying to be the best example I can, It's already working little by little. Elder Candelario still is zone leader along with Elder Scott my first zone leader in the mission. They are in the same ward as me and sometimes we eat together so that's pretty sick. The ward is a ton more organized, a lot bigger and more people. There are 4 companionships of missionaries in the ward. They want to put a branch in Xahuento alone so they sometimes have activities where the missionaries go and contact whoever they can in my area. Really the thing (area) is huge. My overall feeling is that I have a lot of work to do here. My area is a bit smaller than Smithfield and there are very few active members. There are less actives but without an address so they will be fun to find.

The apartment is just me and him. It's more quiet, which for me is weird. It gives me more time to focus on the work though. I am doing my job better than before in Alamedas, especially with the Area Book (the records of everything we do). Now I am filling out everything not just investigators. The apartment was flipping dirty when I arrived. We cleaned a lot today and we have a lot more to do. The next p day is specifically for the bathroom...

I will do what I can to keep up with Elder Toro. The food here is good. It's basically the same. A bit more cactus though. We have less investigators than Alamedas right now. It's one family of 3 and that's it. Then we have 2 recent converts and a less active that I have seen.

Mission President met his wife at BYU. She was the roommate of his sister so they got to know each other like that and then got married 6 months later. (He asks his Mission President a question each week with his letter so he can get to know him better.)

I haven't received the package yet, but I am sure I will soon.

And also happy birthday to Connor this week.

Love you

Elder Finlinson

Vargas Family with Andrew before he left. The Grandpa is the one that hugged him and kissed his hand and said that he was always welcome in their home basically.